Scouting
What belongs in a scout report
A scout report other departments can trust: the decision, the access, and the pictures that answer a question.
ScenePrep Desk2 min read
A location scout report is a document other departments have to trust when you are not in the room. It is not a mood board and it is not a real-estate listing. It answers whether the company can shoot there, what it will cost them in time, and what will surprise them at call. If a producer cannot schedule from the first paragraph, the report is not finished.
Start with the decision
The first paragraph should say yes, no, or yes with a condition. Usable for the kitchen argument if we own the street for the two-shot. Not usable for the night exterior, because the sodium lamps are not under our control. A producer can schedule from that. They cannot schedule from twelve unlabeled photos and a sentence about the charm of the tile.
“The first paragraph should say yes, no, or yes with a condition.”
The four lines that get skipped
Sound: refrigerators, ice machines, the traffic phase, church bells, and the hour they start. Power: where the distro can land, how far the run is, and whether the building will let you tie in. Access: the load-in path with the largest door, the stairs, and the hours the elevator is staffed. Neighbors: who can hear you, who can see you, and who has already complained about a previous shoot.
Write those as lines, not as a paragraph you hope someone will skim. A line can be copied onto a call sheet. A paragraph gets summarized by somebody who was not there, and the ice machine disappears.
Pictures that match the sentences
Shoot the approach from the truck's point of view, the hero angle from eye height, and a reverse that shows what the lens will see behind the cast. Then shoot the problem: the low pipe, the mirror that catches the crew, the window that looks into a bedroom. Label them in the report with the same words you used in the notes. North wall, wide lens, 14:10 is more useful than a filename.
If a still does not answer a question a department will ask, it is a souvenir.
Close with the contact who can actually approve the date, the permit hint if you have one, and the date you walked it. Keep the pins next to the notes so the map and the report stay the same place. A report that lives in a thread and a pin that lives in another app will disagree by Friday.